Broadcasting

Only Unfairness Doctrine Now.

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Article in Poynter by Liam Scott, 4/22/25

Headline:  “The repeal of the fairness doctrine accelerated the polarization of US media”

Subhead:  “When broadcasters no longer had to present diverse viewpoints, conservative radio thrived”

“The walk from his Federal Communications Commission office to the commission meeting room felt particularly long for Dennis Patrick on Aug. 4, 1987.

“That was the day that Patrick, then FCC chairman, and his colleagues unanimously voted to repeal the Fairness Doctrine, a policy that had mandated broadcast networks to fairly present differing viewpoints on controversial issues.

“Patrick remembers how quiet it was as he walked to the meeting that day with one of his aides.

“Finally he said to me, just before I opened the door to enter the commission meeting room, ‘Mr. Chairman, are you sure you really want to do this? You are going to have hell to pay,’ Patrick recalled. ‘And I said to him, “We are going to do the right thing, and I’m sure that we will have hell to pay.’ ”

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/poynter-50-repeal-fairness-doctrine-rush-limbaugh-conservative-talk-radio/

No Journalistic Independence Now

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Article in The Guardian by Leonie Chao-Fong, 4/22/24

Headline:  “60 Minutes executive producer leaves program over journalistic independence”

Subhead:  Bill Owens says in staff memo ‘it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it’ “

“Bill Owens, the executive producer of 60 Minutes, says he is leaving the flagship news program because he lost his journalistic independence.

“In a staff memo obtained by the New York Times, Owens said that ‘over the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to . run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience’ . . .”

“He said the show will continue to cover the new Trump administration, adding: ‘The show is too important to the country. It has to continue, just not with me as the executive producer.’ ”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/22/60-minutes-executive-producer-leaves-bill-owens

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Article in Mediaite by Michael Luciano, 4/22/25

Headline: “Tapper Rips CBS Owner for 60 Minutes Shakeup Amid Trump Pressure: ‘Hope the Money’s Worth It, Shari’ “

“CNN’s Jake Tapper pilloried the controlling owner of CBS’s parent company after the departure of the executive producer of 60 Minutes on Tuesday.

“President Donald Trump is suing CBS over an interview 60 Minutes conducted last year with then-vice president Kamala Harris after she secured the Democratic presidential nomination. CBS aired two different parts of a response Harris gave to a question. One part of the response was in a teaser for the show, and the other was aired on the show itself.

“ ‘The president alleges that editing the 60 Minutes interview and running two different answers to the same question helped Vice President Harris and amounted to electoral fraud,’ Tapper explained on Tuesday’s edition of The Lead. ‘In reality, this is just editorial discretion. Editors do it all the time with recorded interviews, including all the time with taped interviews by Fox [News]’. . .”

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/tapper-rips-cbs-owner-after-60-minutes-shakeup-amid-trump-pressure-hope-the-moneys-worth-it-shari/

 

Ministry of Truth Spokespersons

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Article in Media Matters by Jack Winstanley & Shelby Jamerson, 4/21/25

Hedline:  “Right-leaning online shows claiming to be nonpolitical pushed pro-Trump messaging during the administration’s first 30 days”

“Media Matters reviewed 12 supposedly nonpolitical online shows and found two-thirds of episodes praised Trump or his administration or pushed right-wing misinformation/narratives

“Popular online shows that self-identify as comedy, business, or another supposedly nonpolitical category but have a right-leaning ideological bent — including those of Joe Rogan and Patrick Bet-David — pushed pro-Trump messaging and right-wing misinformation/narratives during the first 30 days of the Trump administration. . .”

https://www.mediamatters.org/google/right-leaning-online-shows-claiming-be-nonpolitical-pushed-pro-trump-messaging-during

Widening Gyre Public Media

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 4/14/25

Headline:  “Trump’s Plan to Defund Public Broadcasting To Face Opposition from Americans Who Overwhelmingly Support NPR and PBS“

Subhead:  “White House source tells press of plan to cut more than a billion dollars from the budget, effectively zeroing out federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting”

“According to Politico and New York Times reports Monday, the White House will send Congress a request to claw back nearly $1.1 billion in already-approved federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the entity that provides federal support for NPR and PBS affiliates across the country. . .”

https://www.freepress.net/news/trumps-plan-defund-public-broadcasting-face-opposition-americans-who-overwhelmingly-support

Soon – Media Required to Praise Leader?

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Article in Huffpost by Lydia O’Commor 4/14/25

Headline:  “Trump Is Ramping Up His War With The Press As He Demands Media Praise”

Subhead:  “Nobody watches you anymore. You have no credibility,” Trump snapped at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.”

“President Donald Trump has been escalating his war with the media, allowing members of his administration to take turns bashing a reporter, denying journalists access to the Oval Office and calling for networks to be punished.

“In his latest installment, Trump lashed out at CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins before she could even finish asking him a question on Monday. . . .”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-war-with-press_n_67fd47bfe4b081fb1e97209b

Money-Truth on the Radio

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Josh Hersch 4/11/25

Headline:  “Kai Ryssdal Was America’s Economic Voice of Reason This Week”

Subhead:  “The Marketplace host on Trump’s economic policies, and telling it like it is.”

“Kai Ryssdal has been the host of Marketplace, a leading daily radio show and podcast about the economy, produced by American Public Media, since 2005.

“He delivers the news—from the bitter latest on our 401(k)s to unexpected interviews about the modern-day resurgence of train robberies—with an affable, direct tone. . .”

“This week on The Kicker, Ryssdal explains what, exactly, just happened with the economy, and why he feels it’s so important for Marketplace to call it like they see it. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/kicker/kai-ryssdal-marketplace-trump-economy.php

Windfall for Some Media Giants?

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 4/10/25

Headline:  “Kill the Bill: Press Group Fights Oregon Measure on Payment by Tech Firms”

“Free Press Action noted that the bill would divert millions into the pocket of corporate media giants and incentivize tech platforms to block local news content entirely.”

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/404954/kill-the-bill-press-group-fights-oregon-measure-o.html

First Amendment and Media?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Sarah Grecy Gotfredsen, 4/10/25

Headline:  “Entry: Denied”

Subhead:  “The “intolerable risk to press freedom” posed by device searches at the border.”

“. . .In 2019, The Intercept documented how journalists covering the so-called migrant caravan faced ‘coordinated harassment’ from US and Mexican authorities. Through a series of interviews, the journalist Ryan Devereaux tells how members of the press were forced to turn over their notes, cameras, and phones while border officers interrogated them for information about activists working with members of the caravan. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/entry-denied-us-border-customs-device-unlock-search-journalists-detain.php

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Article in Fair by Janine Jackson, 4/10/25

Headline:  ” ‘This Is an All-Out War on the First Amendment’ “

Subhead:  “CounterSpin interview with Jessica González on Trump’s FCC”

“Janine Jackson:  ‘There are reasons that the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, is an opaque entity for many people. The fact that there is a federal agency setting the terms for media companies’ operations conflicts with many Americans’ understanding of the press corps as a group of brave, independent individuals looking to tell the truth, and let the chips fall where they may.’

“There are, in fact, many community-supported, differently structured news outlets doing just that. . .”

https://fair.org/home/this-is-an-all-out-war-on-the-first-amendment/

Protect Your Sources

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 4/8/25

Headline:  “Legal experts advise journalists to strengthen reporting security in the face of rising press restrictions”

Subhead:  “Journalists can protect their sources by maintaining good digital hygiene and being aware of security vulnerabilities, experts say”

“At a time when President Donald Trump’s administration has accelerated attacks on the press, accessing information and protecting sources might become more difficult for journalists, experts say.

” ‘Concerns about libel law and the protections from landmark Supreme Court case New York Times Co. v Sullivan have been exaggerated’, said New York Times deputy general counsel David McCraw and Center for Investigative Reporting general counsel Victoria Baranetsky. Instead, they advised journalists to take measures to secure their reporting material and be cognizant of the pressures they face in the current political climate. Their remarks came Monday during a Poynter webinar called ‘Safeguarding your journalism against legal threats. . .’

“Trump has already taken measures to curtail press access. His administration has laid off communications staff, reallocated dedicated office space in the Pentagon to conservative outlets, taken over the White House press pool and defunded global radio stations. Most notably, his administration has banned The Associated Press from accessing key White House spaces like the Oval Office. Members of his administration have also threatened to investigate leaks.

“Newsrooms may see more subpoenas seeking their communications and reporting material, McCraw warned. To that end, journalists should be cognizant of the documentation that they generate and keep. An unflattering private message to a colleague, for example, could be unearthed in court — as was the case earlier this year when a jury found CNN guilty of defaming a security contractor. . .”

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/trump-legal-threats-journalists-source-protection/

 

Not in the News? – it Didn’t Happen

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Article in The New Republic by Parker Molloy 4/7/25

Headline:  “Print Media to Mass Protests: ‘Please Turn to Page 18’ ”

Subhead:  “Here’s how newspapers across America minimized one of the largest demonstrations since Trump’s return to power.”

“On Saturday, April 5, hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets across the nation to protest the harmful policies of Donald Trump’s second term. The ‘Hands Off!’ demonstrations represented what organizers called ‘the largest single day of protest since Trump entered office’ with more than 1,100 rallies scheduled in all 50 states. From Chicago to Washington, D.C.; Asheville to Boston; Milwaukee to Louisville—people showed up in droves.

“CNN reported that organizers estimated “millions” turned out coast to coast for these protests that united civil rights organizations, veterans, women’s rights groups, labor unions, and LGBTQ advocates. Even with conservative estimates, we’re talking about one of the largest mobilizations in recent American history.

“But if you picked up a major print newspaper the next day? You’d barely know it happened.

“The New York Times relegated the protests to an image below the fold with a caption instructing readers to turn to page 18 for more information.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/193683/print-media-downplay-mass-protests

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Article in Fair by Miranda C. Spencer, 4/4/25

Headline: “The Resistance Will Not Be Televised ”

“. . . Their common thread is opposition to Trump’s fascistic ideology and rapid rash of likely unconstitutional executive orders, such as freezing federal budget outlays approved by Congress, the mass firing of government workers and the dismantling of institutions by the ‘Department’ of Government Efficiency by unelected ‘adviser’ Elon Musk.

But if you relied on articles and broadcasts from the legacy national news media during early 2025, you wouldn’t know the extent of grassroots action prompted by this discontent. A FAIR examination of five major outlets found that coverage of anti-Trump/pro-democracy protests . . . (January 22 to February 26) was minimal, and downplayed the significance of this opposition, especially around the inauguration. . . Mostly tepid coverage

“Broadcast coverage was abysmal. None of the four network shows in our study ran any reports focused on any of the three protest events. ABC World News Tonight mentioned none of the events, and GMA referred to only one of them in passing. In their coverage of the January 18 protests, CBS Evening News and Mornings gave more coverage to speculation about violent protest than they did to actual (nonviolent) protest. . .”

https://fair.org/home/the-resistance-will-not-be-televised/